Il Lombardia was the final race of the 2016 WorldTour, and for several riders, it was the final race of their careers. The champagne corks were popping at the Trek-Segafredo bus in Bergamo as both Fränk Schleck and Ryder Hesjedal hung up their wheels and reflected on the past 15 or so years.
"Everyone told me that I need to enjoy the last kilometers because it's going to be something special, and I was waiting to feel this special moment, but nothing really happened. I just felt really tired like I normally do at the end of a race," Schleck of the moment he crossed the line.
"But then when I came to the bus there was a nice reception from the boys, the team, the fan club, and some family, my kids, my wife, and they reminded me that this is it! I realized it's not just a switch that you turn on or off. I think it will come in the next days that then I will realize that it is finished."
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Hesjedal wasn’t able to soak up the emotions on the run to the finish line as he climbed off his bike and abandoned during an especially tough and selective edition of the 'race of the falling leaves'.
"I really wanted to finish it today, but realistically I know how things work on the road. I don’t know how many guys finished in the end [61 – ed], but you definitely had to have good legs, and I didn't so it was impossible. I still enjoyed every moment out there," he said in an interview with the Trek-Segafredo team's website.
Hesjedal began his career in mountain biking, before switching to the road in 2004, riding alongside Lance Armstrong at US Postal and then moving to Phonak in 2006. He spent the bulk of his career at Jonathan Vaughters Slipstream set-up, winning the Giro d'Italia in 2012, but admitted to doping earlier in his career before he joined the clean-ethos team. He moved to Trek for the final year of his career and one more crack at the Giro, but he was forced to abandon.
No regrets for Schleck
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